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The only reference to Jesus' 
birth in John's gospel is before Pontius Pilate, and it's a royal 
purpose. The thing that ought to disturb 
us at Christmas time is that everybody likes to have gentle 
Jesus, meek and mild, in his infantile state, in a manger, 
in a position that is non-threatening, in a position that is absolutely 
tamable, in a position that is absolutely manipulated by us. The Bible tells us that with 
reference to the royal reign of Jesus Christ, it is the purpose 
for which he was born. That's what he says to Pontius 
Pilate. This is the same thought or concept 
in Isaiah 9, 6. The government will be upon his 
shoulders. Isn't that encouraging? The government 
isn't on our shoulders. The government isn't on Justin 
Trudeau's shoulders. The government isn't on Joe Biden's 
shoulders. If all there is is what we see, 
this is far more messed up than you and I had ever even imagined. But Christ at the right hand 
of God Most High rules. He reigns. He's sovereign. He has universal empire. That's 
the emphasis in Matthew 28. That's the emphasis in Ephesians 
chapter 1, 19 to 23. He's exalted at the right hand 
of God, far above all principality and power and dominion and every 
name that is named in this age and in that which is to come. 
When John the Apostle comes to write his letter to the churches 
of Asia Minor that were suffering for the cause of Jesus Christ, 
he starts off with a Trinitarian greeting in Revelation chapter 
one. And he mentions that Jesus Christ 
now, right now, at the time that he wrote, is the ruler over the 
kings of the earth. I think the church needs a fresh 
dose of that medicine because these are discouraging times 
in which we live. These are troubling times in 
which we experience. And yet Christ is over all these 
things presently. He's ruler over the kings of 
the earth.